Open Research Biopharmaceutical Internship Support
The Center for Dermal Research (CDR) at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey is a partner hosting site for Visiting Scientists from Europe from both academia and pharmaceutical companies. The CDR hosted nine ORBIS scientists in 2018 and six scientists in 2019. Before the funding of the proposal ends in 2021 the CDR will have many more visiting professors and pharmaceutical scientists from many locations in the European Union. The P.I. at Rutgers is Dr. Bozena “Bo” Michniak-Kohn, Professor of Pharmaceutics at the Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy and Director of the CDR. Our Orbis Guests
The current process of drug development is lengthy and inefficient. Only 1 out of approximately 10,000 drug molecules enters the market. Therefore more effective medicines, demanded by society, cannot be provided by pharmaceutical industry. To fill this gap, Open Research Biopharmaceutical Internships Support (ORBIS) proposes that the high attrition rate of new drug candidates might be reduced by over 20% by improving early stage R&D productivity. The overarching objective of ORBIS is therefore to form an international and inter-sectoral academic and industrial network. The action is aimed at improving the preclinical pathway of medicine development concentrating on processes and technologies. The goal is to integrate multidisciplinary research by involving academia and industry from EU (Poland, Ireland, Finland, Germany and Czech Republic), EU associated country (Ukraine) and the US to address the poor drug bioavailability as 70% of actives have solubility and/or membrane permeability problems.
The action is addressed at selected molecules of class II and IV of Biopharmaceutics Classification System, to improve their pharmaceutical potential. The complementary consortium comprises experts in computations, physical chemistry, material science, nanotechnology, pharmacy, pharmacology and bioanalysis. The secondments will create a stimulating environment for early stage researchers to advance their individual career and soft skills. EU scientists will amalgamate their expertise in drug synthesis and dissolution, oral formulations, and bioanalytical methods with the knowledge on dermal research provided by the US partner. ORBIS will consolidate the existing links, promote long-term cooperation and exchange of knowledge between beneficiaries and partners. ORBIS will also enhance dissemination of new research outcomes and raise the awareness among the general public of the importance of drug delivery research that makes new drugs more accessible and affordable for society.
The ORBIS Project is a response to the current scientific, economic and social challenge of increasing the effectiveness and productivity of drug development process, both for innovative and (super)generic drugs. This goal can be achieved by interdisciplinary cooperation between the academics from different fields of pharmaceutical sciences and the employees of R&D sector in commercial enterprises. The core of ORBIS is constituted by international, intersectoral exchange of researchers between academic centers and pharmaceutical companies – the consortium partners.
During the secondments (training periods) planned in the project, young and experienced scientists will cooperate with the hosting institutions on the most relevant and up-to-date issues of drug development process, such as: synthesis and optimization of new active ingredients, preformulation studies, development of novel oral, dermal and transdermal dosage forms, as well as their biopharmaceutical evaluation with new analytical methods.
The ORBIS Project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No 778051.
